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Review: Truckers: The First Book of the Nomes by Terry Pratchett

Under the floorboards of the Store is a world of four-inch-tall nomes that humans never see. It is commonly known among these nomes that Arnold Bros. created the Store for them to live in, and he declared: “Everything Under One Roof.” Therefore there can be no such thing as Outside. It just makes sense.

That is, until the day a group of nomes arrives on a truck, claiming to be from Outside, talking about Day and Night and Snow and other crazy legends. And they soon uncover devastating news: The Store is about to be demolished. It’s up to Masklin, one of the Outside nomes, to devise a daring escape plan that will forever change the nomes’ vision of the world. . . .

Review

I was sent this book as a thank you from RHCB after taking part in the Terry Pratchett memorial blog tour (all organised by the talented Viv from Serendipity Reviews). It was a lovely surprise in the post and I was instantly drawn in by the blurb which sounded right up my street. My first step into the world of Pratchett didn’t quite grab me in the way I thought it would (see review of Good Omens here) but I was happy to give this one a read.

Truckers is the tale of small people that are no higher than a few inches tall and live around the human world without us knowing they are there at all. We follow one group of Nomes as they leave their home by a motorway pit stop in the hopes of finding a better life. They find a whole world of Nomes they thought had become extinct but what happens when one ways meet new ones. Will there we war or a happy family reunion?

Truckers has elements of The Borrowers about it, which was one of my favourite stories as a child, but with that twist that can only be defined as the Pratchett touch. A real roaring romp of an adventure that looks at a world that we already know through new eyes. It’s funny when we see items or words we, as humans, understand but the Nomes have no frame of reference and make mistakes at interrupting them. I loved the mini gangs of Nomes in the department store and the great use of language through-out the book.

I kinda wish I read Truckers as my first step into the world of Pratchett because it was such wonderful experience. It was funny, exciting and didn’t feel there was ‘too much’ to get to grips with. In his adult books, I think Pratchett was of the mind that you should ‘go big or go home’ which is great, but I just wasn’t in the mood for that at the time.

Two huge thumbs up for Truckers!

Published by Corgi, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, and is available online and in bookshops now